Project description:The zebrafish has been widely used for the study of human disease and development, as ~70% of the protein-coding genes are conserved between the two species. Annotation of functional control elements of the zebrafish genome, however, has lagged behind that of other model systems such as mouse and Drosophila. Based on multi-omics approaches taken in the ENCODE and Roadmap Epigenomics projects, we performed RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq and Hi-C experiments in ten adult and two embryonic tissues to generate a comprehensive map of transcriptomes and regulatory elements in the zebrafish Tuebingen reference strain. Overall, we have identified 235,596 cis-regulatory elements, which potentially shape the tissue-specific and developmental-stage-specific gene expression in zebrafish. A comparison of zebrafish, human, and mouse regulatory elements allowed us to identify both evolutionarily conserved and species-specific regulatory sequences. Furthermore, through the analysis of Hi-C data in zebrafish brain and muscle, we observed different levels of 3D genome organization, including compartment, topological associating domains (TADs), and chromatin loops in zebrafish. A subset of TADs are deeply conserved between zebrafish and human. This work provides an additional epigenomic anchor for the functional annotation of vertebrate genomes and the study of evolutionally conserved elements of 3D genome organization.
Project description:Transposable elements (TEs) are major contributors of genetic material in mammalian genomes. These often include binding sites for architectural proteins, including the multifarious master protein, CTCF, which shapes the 3D genome by creating loops, domains, compartment borders and RNA-DNA interactions, all of which play a role in the compact packaging of DNA and have the potential to facilitate regulatory function. In this study, we explore the widespread contribution of TEs to mammalian 3D genomes by quantifying the extent to which they give rise to loops and domain border differences across various cell types and species using several 3D genome mapping technologies. We show that specific (sub-)families of TEs have contributed to lineage-specific 3D chromatin structures across mammalian species. In many cases, these loops may facilitate interaction between distant cis-regulatory elements and target genes, and domains may segregate chromatin state to impact gene expression in a lineage-specific manner. An experimental validation of our analytical findings using CRISPR-Cas9 to delete a candidate TE resulted in disruption of species-specific 3D chromatin structure. Taken together, we comprehensively quantify and selectively validate our finding that TEs contribute to 3D genome organization and may, in some cases, impact gene regulation during the course of mammalian evolution.
Project description:In this study, we have applied ChIP-Seq to identify putative regulatory elements throughout the zebrafish genome. For this purpose we identified sequences within the zebrafish genome that associate with H3K4me1 and H3K4me3, which are epigenetic modifications known to be associated with active cis-regulatory elements in other species. Determination of H3K4me1- and H3K4me3-binding sites in the zebrafish genome.
Project description:In this study, we have applied ChIP-Seq to identify putative regulatory elements throughout the zebrafish genome. For this purpose we identified sequences within the zebrafish genome that associate with H3K4me1 and H3K4me3, which are epigenetic modifications known to be associated with active cis-regulatory elements in other species.
Project description:Although major advances in genomics have initiated an exciting new era of research, the lack of information about cis-regulatory elements has limited the genetic improvement or manipulation of pig as meat source and biomedical model. Here, we systematically characterize the cis-regulatory elements and their functions in the pig genome in 12 diverse tissues from 4 pig breeds through RNA-Seq, ATAC-Seq, and ChIP-Seq analyses. In total, we generated 199 datasets and identified more than 220,000 pig cis-regulatory elements. We find that cis-regulatory elements are more conserved between humans and pigs than that between humans and mice. To further explore the three dimension structure of pig genome, we performed high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) experiment. The rearrangements of TADs between pig and human have apparently contributed to the evolution of head and face phenotypes. Beyond generating a major new benchmark resource for pig epigenetics research, our study provides basic epigenetic comparative data for using pig as a model for human biomedical research.
Project description:We used CRISPR KI technology to mutagenize the cis-regulatory elements including the editing stem and the editing complementary sequence of three RNA editing substrates-NEIL1, TTYH2, AJUBA. We designed single nucleotide variants, double-nucleotide variants and other mutant isoforms to interrogate the primary sequence and the secondary structures around the endogenous RNA editing sites. Gene specific primers were used to make the NGS library for each locus. The unique mutation of each tested isoform can be used as barcode and RNA editing level can be measured for each isoform from the pooled library. We found that RNA sequence and structure features synergistically determine the editing levels. Several features, such as mutation number, free energy, and probability of active conformation, play an important role in determining editing efficiency. This study systematically investigated the contribution of cis-regulatory elements to ADAR1 RNA editing by combining CRISPR-based saturation mutagenesis and deep sequencing technology.
Project description:Although most disease-causing variants are within coding region of genes, it is now well established that cis-acting regulatory sequences, depending on 3D-chromatin organization, are required for temporal and spatial control of gene expression. Disruptions of such regulatory elements and/or chromatin conformation are likely to play a critical role in human genetic disease. Hence, recurrent monoallelic cases of the most common hereditary type of nonsyndromic hearing loss (i.e. DFNB1) carrying out only one identified pathogenic allele, led to strongly suggest the presence of uncharacterized distal cis-acting elements in the missing allele. Herewith, we study the spatial organization of a large DFNB1 locus encompassing the gap junction protein beta 2 (GJB2) gene, the most frequently mutated gene in this inherited hearing loss, with the chromosome conformation capture carbon copy technology (5C). By combining this approach with functional activity reporter assays and mapping of CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) along the DFNB1 locus by quantitative real-time PCR chromatin immunoprecipitation, we identify a novel set of cooperating GJB2 cis-acting elements and propose a DFNB1 three-dimensional looping regulation model. A loop chromatin forming, allows bringing closer enhancers to the GJB2 promoter, but also avoids GJB2 silencing with an enhancer-blocking insulator activity.
Project description:RNA molecules not only carry genetic information like DNA, but also folds into exquisite 3D structures like proteins. Despite strong interests in RNA biology and their medical applications, RNA structure determination in vivo remained a long-standing problem. Here we developed a new technology to directly determine RNA structures in vivo, termed SHARC-seq. Applying SHARC-seq, spatial distances among nucleotides can be measured and used to rebuild in vivo RNA 3D structure and dynamics.